The Difference Between a Zircon & a Diamond

When people hear the word "zircon," they commonly mistake it for cubic zirconia, an inexpensive, imitation diamond. However, the zircon is indeed a separate, valuable gemstone that is still often compared to one of the most prized minerals on Earth: the diamond.

Fundamental Differences

The differences begin on the most fundamental level. A zircon is crystallized zirconium silicate. Diamonds are an allotrope of carbon.

Color and Rarity

Zircons are uncommon in rock shops and are usually brown, red, yellow, green, blue, black or colorless. Diamonds usually have a yellow or brown tinge, with actual colorless diamonds being quite rare.

Uses

Colorless zircon gems are occasionally used as false diamonds, but all manner of zircons can be made into attractive gems and jewelry, while diamonds are commonly used in heavy industry, such as oil drilling, as well as for jewelry.

Hardness

Zircons, while harder than most natural gemstones, pale in comparison to the hardness of a diamond, which has the distinction of being the hardest natural mineral known.

Misidentification

Colorless zircons are sometimes misidentified as diamonds due to visual similarities of the two stones.

References

• Amethyst Galleries' Mineral Gallery: Zircon
• Mineralogy Database: Zircon
• Amethyst Galleries' Mineral Gallery: Diamond